Paralian Grenache 2025

Paralian Grenache 2025

Single vineyard Grenache, fruit sourced from ‘The Marmont Vineyard’ Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale grown by the Cross family.

Dry Grown on Holocene Sand, East/West aspect, 140-145m altitude. Planted in 1960.

Hand-picked on the 14th of March, wild-fermented in a 137-year-old wax lined concrete open fermenter, 20% whole bunch, remainder of fruit destemmed whole berry on top. Gentle cap management with daily hand plunges with the occasional pump over during the peak of ferment over a period of 21-days on skins. Whole bunches were hand squeezed at zero Baume to release the beautiful aromatic carbonic ferment characters back into the wine. Wine was matured on lees for 10 months in a 18 year old 2500L French oak foudre.

"I poured this wine into my normal tasting glass, or actually into one of my fancier tasting bench glasses, which is made by Riedel and is a very good, fine, elegant glass. And yet one sip into tasting the wine and I was looking for my best evening glassware. I mean, holy cow.

This is a sensational grenache. It’s so good that you just want to dive into it and swim out for the horizon; it has that limitless feeling, that dare. It tastes I guess of plums and redcurrant, orange rind, citrus blossom, pops of licorice, ozone, morning hay and a sweet open field. It tastes like grapes, red grapes, caressed, squeezed, delivered in a capsule of peeled and then re-installed grape skin. I’m not a big one for splurging on an expensive meal; this wine makes me want to splurge on an expensive meal. In a rational world this wine is worth two or three cents for every cent that it asks; in the irrational world that we live in, it’s worth more. Skye Salter and Charlie Seppelt – the people behind Paralian – have done Australian wine proud here."

96 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front